Curso:
B1 - Destiny
LESSON 48: IS THIS THE MAN YOU SAW? – RELATIVE CLAUSES AND INTEGRATION OF TENSES
Relative Clauses: The Omission Rule
How to play: The teacher is the witness. You are the Police Sketch Artist. The teacher will describe a ridiculous suspect using relative clauses. You have 2 minutes to draw exactly what you hear.
Teacher's Secret Prompt (Example):
"The man who robbed the bank has a nose that looks like a triangle. He was wearing a hat which was too small for his head, and he has a scar that looks like a star on his chin."
Show your drawings to the camera/class! Who has the best sketch?
Officer: Look at these photos. Is the man you saw any of these men?
Witness: I’m not sure. It happened so fast. I was walking on the sidewalk when he rushed out of that building, and even pushed me away.
Officer: Okay. Look carefully. Tell me, is the man you saw in these photos?
Witness: No, the man I saw is not in these photos. The man I saw is there.
Officer: Where?
Witness: There, that photo on the wall. That man who is standing next to the mayor. That’s the man I saw.
Officer: What? This man? Are you positive? But that’s the Police Commissioner!
Wait... why did the witness say "the man I saw" and not "the man WHO I saw"?
Sometimes, we can drop who, which, or that to sound more natural and fluent. But there is a strict rule!
If the next word is a SUBJECT (I, you, he, the police, my friend).
If the next word is a VERB (is, stole, helped, runs).
Writing: Connect the clues to describe these items. Omit the pronoun if possible!
Clue 1: This is the laptop. / Clue 2: I bought it last week.
Clue 1: That is the teacher. / Clue 2: He helped me with my homework.
Roleplay: One of you is the Officer, the other is the Witness.
You now know exactly how to drop the pronoun like a native speaker.
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